The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed relaxing pollution standards for power plants nationwide, a move that could slow the decline of U.S. carbon emissions and lead to hundreds more premature deaths and thousands of asthma attacks and missed school days.
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| President Trump shakes hands with coal mining company executive Kevin Hughes before signing signed a resolution rejecting the Obama Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule, in the White House on Feb. 16, 2017. |
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Affordable Clean Energy rule, which President Trump planned to tout at a roundtable meeting in Charleston, W.Va., on Tuesday evening, represents the administration’s most ambitious proposal to bolster the nation’s coal industry. Although it probably would have a modest impact on curbing carbon dioxide emissions in the power sector, it could potentially increase human health risks from other pollutants.
The measure, which would replace an Obama-era rule that set strict carbon dioxide limits for each state and encouraged the shuttering of coal plants, is likely to widen the environmental policy divide between red and blue states. Officials in conservative states may allow utilities to extend the life of coal-fired units, while those in liberal states are likely to keep pressing for steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Read the story from The Washington Post by Juliet Eilperin - “Trump administration proposes rule to relax carbon limits on power plants.”
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